HBO’s Boardwalk Empire returned for it’s fourth season Sunday night, living up to its reputation of violence, booze and debauchery. Although down about half a million viewers with 2.4 million as opposed to the 2.9 million viewers from the season three premiere, this may be attributed to the opening night for the NFL, and not a decrease in the quality of this riveting drama.
Following the necessary murder of the crazed Johnny Torrio at the conclusion of last season, Nucky Thompson, played by the legendary Steve Buscemi, was in a tough spot with former business partners, New York mafia boss Jon Massaria and entrepreneur Arnold Rothstein. Surprisingly a tentative agreement seemed to be reached, with Nucky bribing his would-be enemies with a serious stack of dough, as well as liquor and girls to sweeten the pot. Although it may be too early to speculate, Massaria seems a formidable big bad for this season if Nucky crosses him again.
Al Capone gets rustled his name is spelled wrong by a reporter and shows him who’s boss. That’s about it for the prolific gangster. Here’s hoping the best is yet to come, as we are yet to truly see the breadth of Capone’s character.
The climax of the episode was a racially charged voyeuristic sex scene, where Dunn Pursley is tricked into a having sex with the wife of the racist Dickey Pastor for his voyeuristic pleasure. Dunn keeps his cool until Pastor comments “There’s no changing you people,” to which Dunn responds by swiftly stabbing Pastor repeatedly in the face with a whiskey bottle, leaving Nucky and Albert “Chalky” White to clean up the mess.
Michael Shannon, who plays former prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden did not appear in Sunday’s episode. As a wildcard character for the show, we can only speculate that his first appearance will be will a bang, having solidified his fall from grace in the last season by joining the dark side of the bootlegging industry in Chicago.
Nucky’s wife and former partner, Margaret Thompson, also failed to appear in the episode. How she will factor into the action this season also remains to be seen, but seeing how Nucky’s last serious girlfriend was killed in a fiery explosion, her chances of re entering Nucky’s life as a romantic interest seem strong.’
Overall prospects seem high for the newest season of Boardwalk. Let’s hope they take a hint from Breaking Bad and continue to reveal the monster within our favorite fun-loving gangster.
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